When you take a moment to put yourself under the microscope and truly answer the question: Who are you? You suddenly realize that you are not just one thing; but rather a beautiful collage of thoughts and memories. This is my collection.

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So today’s theme was to capture the essence of warmth by using the sun as your source; unfortunately for me it’s November in Newfoundland and the sun has gone into hiding – I expect to see it again some time next spring. In the mean time here is a photo that I think sums up my interpretation of warmth pretty well not to mention it’s adorable.

For as long as I can remember Chloe will seek out the tiniest spot of sunlight and just soak it up. She’s actually gotten into some pretty weird places while trying to do this – once she even fell off the back of the sofa! I call her my little sun puppy. (note; her right eye looks a little funny in this picture but no worries, everything is fine – just the angle of the picture)

The fall of the year: nature’s one last ho-rah, a burst of color before the long sleep of winter. New school books, friend reuniting after long summer vacations, sweaters, pumpkins and sweet sticky candy. Cool crisp air that tickles your nose, fresh and clean yet ripe with anticipation for a season of twinkling lights and brightly colored packages that lays in wait just around the corner. Orange and red; the beautiful sunset before the end of another year. Autumn.In case you haven’t guessed Autumn is my favorite time of the year so it didn’t surprise me when a particular picture caught my attention yesterday. As part of photo 101 theme “the natural world” Tilly posted a beautiful photo that for me captures the essence of the season and is the inspiration for this post! You can check out the photo here and be sure to check out the rest of her wonderful blog; Tilly’s Townhouse.

There were lots of great fall photos, my own included but there was just something about the way the leaves color the sky that left me breathless – those reds, oranges and yellows always get me. I had to know where this beautiful place existed. The answer surprised me: Akasaka Park, Narita, Japan.

Wait a minute, Japan?

Embarrassingly when I thought of japan, nature wasn’t first image that comes to mind. What I knew about Japan could be summed up pretty quickly; very tall buildings, samurai swords, kimonos, Hiroshima and… Mulan? (Mulan is Chinese Lacey, get your head out of your…)

Suddenly it became overwhelming apparent how little I knew about Japan and that got me thinking; outside of my little north america bubble what did I really know about other countries and their cultures? I wrote a paper about Italy in the 8th grade but the only thing I can remember now is that it’s shape like a boot, home to the leaning tower of Pisa and the Vatican. Germany? Oktoberfest, Volkswagen and ….the holocaust? Oh. My. God.

Panic was starting to set in now, when did I become so culturally illiterate? I know more about Hogwarts then Hungary…more about Narnia then New Zealand. Okay Lacey, breathe. This is nothing a little internet search and some time can’t fix right? Right – to Goggle!

This morning while the baby was napping I started a quest to find out more about Japan and even in that short amount of time I’ve learned some pretty amazing things. I don’t know if I’ll ever have to opportunity to travel there but that doesn’t mean I can’t soak in as much of the culture as I can right now and out of this realization a challenge was born. I’ve decided to challenge myself to learn more about other cultures over the next twelve months – starting with Japan. You can expect my first post this time next month!

I’m super excited! I know there are lots of travel blogs out there, written by people who have actually traveled to and experienced the wonderful places I’ll be talking about but my hope is that I can inspire others to start their own learning challenge – about anything! Science, history, your own family heritage – the world is literally at your fingertips! My challenge to you is to take full advance.

Special thanks to Tilly who with just one beautiful photo reignited a passion to learn and inspired a girl who hasn’t traveled fathered west then Toronto to seek out a world beyond her front door.

It’s fall here in Newfoundland and even as nature readies it’s self for a long sleepy winter there is beauty everywhere you look. I decided to take a few pictures, in truth I just couldn’t pick which ones I liked the best. It was time for my weekly trip comic book run and I decided to take my camera along. These pictures were taken just behind the shop;

DAY

These next photos were taken a little closer to home; the tree in my yard to be exact. Nature is so different at night and maybe even more beautiful. It was also a great opportunity to try out the flash on my camera. I really like how they turned out and I enjoyed learning more about focus and actually using flash.

I finally got to take some pictures outside my house! Betcha you guys were beginning to think I never went outside but I do get out; sometimes…

Landmark

I think I may have mentioned this before but the place I love and currently call home is Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. We are Canada’s most easterly province and home to the most easterly point in North America – Cape Spear. We even have our very own time zone! Affectionately known as the “rock” the island of Newfoundland is surrounded on all sides by the Atlantic ocean, has a history steeped in tradition and is home to some of the friendliest people on the planet.

Although I’ve always lived in Newfoundland I haven’t always called the capital city of St. john’s my home. I grew up on the southern shore in the little fishing town of St. Lawrence; I’m what Newfoundlanders like to call a bay girl. Even now after living in “‘town” (st. john’s) for 10 years it seems I’m still not considered a townie, perhaps it’s true what they say; you can take the girl out of the bay but you can’t take the bay out of the girl and that just fine by me.

That being said I did still spend my summers in town; a treat for a girl who lived in a place with no mall, movie theater or even a corporately owned grocery store which brings me in a round about way back to my Landmark; Signal hill and Cabot tower stands tall, above the harbor of St. John’s and to a little girl with a wild imagination it was a little like a castle in the clouds.

(not the greatest picture because I was losing the light; those white spots are not camera noise or an issue with my lens…it actually started to snow!)

Fun Facts;

Construction on Cabot Tower began in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and the 400th anniversary of John Cabot’s landfall in 1497. The building was declared officially open in 1900. The practical uses of the building were flag mast signalling, and a Marconi wireless station which has since been moved to St. John’s International Airport.

On 12 December 1901, the first transatlantic wireless transmission was received here byGuglielmo Marconi in an abandoned fever and diphtheria hospital, which has since been destroyed by fire.[1] The transmission, in Morse code, originated from his Poldhu Wireless Station, Cornwall, UK.

The United States maintained anti-aircraft guns on the hill during World War II.(wiki)

The history of the tower is really interesting and it’s beautiful site, perfect for picnics and sight seeing; you get a great view of the harbor and down town from that vantage point – probably why it was such an important place during the war. To me though it will always be a castle filled with dreams of heroic knights, brave princesses and of course dragons.

I’m a little behind so here is my attempt at catching up – tomorrow there will also be two pictures and that should put me on track. I wish I had time to put more thought into these but life’s kinda crazy right now, when it rains it pours amiright?

Solitude

This is Ruby, our pet rose hair tarantula – she is the most solitary creature I know. She chills out in her habitat, minding her own business. I used to feel bad because she was all alone in there but all spiders lead a pretty solitary life – except for Charlotte of course. Ruby has never saved any pigs but once we did try and feed her a mouse (not my idea) and well, prudence the mouse lived another two long years.

Connect

This was is pretty boring but my phone does keep me connected to the outside world. It’s hard to remember a time without it – I can call my mom, order a pizza, prove my friends wrong when they tell me ridiculously wrong information…ya know the important stuff. As much as I love technology sometimes isn’t great just to turn it off and disconnect for a while? Sometimes silence really is golden.

I know Halloween is over and done for another year but I wanted to get some Halloween pictures of Thea and Photo 101 Composition assignment seemed like an awesome opportunity – What’s that honey? No I’m not fooling around with the camera again, I’m working on something 😉

Let me know what you think!

We has lots of fun with our DIY Halloween pictures; Oh course I did have the most awesome model 🙂

The Daily Post article about serial posts really got me thinking and I’ve been playing with a couple of ideas – I’m planning a weekly post starting this coming Friday but I still have some kinks to work out so stay tune. In the mean time I thought it would be fun to try out something new and so Sunday’s Riddle Me This was born. Lets see how this goes…

What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?

Please post your answers in the comments section – no peeking at anyone answers! 😉 If it works out and this gets popular I might look at doing a points system and quarterly prizes. Right now this is just for fun.